sciguy_0504

The rear is ugly. I'm waiting for future variations.

I like the refreshed rear facia, especially the "spoiler." It adds a little flair. However, is appears as if the center stack hasn't changed much and those nasty HVAC/radio controls are still there along with the ugly faux aluminum.

There's not much you can do to make the Civic sedan look better.

Damn straight. I think it looks horrible on the Outlook and Acadia. I've always thought of brown as luxurious. Chocolate brown interiors...yum.

I think for capacity reasons. However, my local Nissan dealer in PA purchased a bunch of Altima hybrids from a dealer in NY in order to sell them here. So it's not like you can only get them in 8 states. This is pretty embarassing for the Aura, though.

I think BMW is running out of styling ideas.

I think the 4-door Wangler looks better than the 2-door. It has a nice, masculine, military look to it. Overall, the Wrangler is a very good vehicle.

I think it looks more substantial and luxurious than the current-gen. That's with the camo.

The current cars, besides the Rabbit, are all too feminine. The Jetta just screams "girl car." I think it's a nice car but I wouldn't want to have one. The past-gen Jetta, however, was great.

We may trade the xB but it needs some cosmetic fixes (scratch on hood, front bumper has a chunk missing) in order to get the value up. Northstar, I think the financing rate was 7-7.5% on the Vue without checking credit. The salesman said the best rate Saturn had was about 6.5% with perfect credit. Reg, I wouldn't mind looking at the Edge but my parents worst car ownership experience was with a late-80's Aerostar. My dad has said he'd never buy another Ford. The Lambdas are unfortunately out of our price range and more car than we need. Today we test drove the CX-7 and Nitro. Like I said before, my favorite before driving any of these cars was the CX-7 but it was a letdown in person, IMO. We test drove a silver Sport AWD model (base) and it felt solid but the ride was a little stiff for me. Handling and acceleration were good but the reviews I've read noted fuel economy was poor, probably because of the supercharged I-4 (think RDX). The interior looks better in pictures, too, and I wasn't too impressed with the materials. The Vue owns the CX7, IMO, though it is smaller. The Nitro was surprising. It is cheapy inside but seems well put together (even though on our blue tester a piece of cloth by the gas pedal was hanging down). The bright blue color is awesome. Accerlation was good and handling was better than I thought it was going to be. You can tell it's on a truck platform but not bad. Steering feel was horrible...very light and not communicative, as was the brake pedal. Overall, though, I would not have a problem owning the Nitro. We had the same problem as with the Vue...payments were higher than what we were expecting but we didn't haggle, just got a price and left. Overall, I'd say it's between the Nitro and Murano but I will get my parents to revisit the Vue once we know whether or not we're going to trade the xB. We owe less than $8,000 on the xB and I know it's worth more than that. Edit: Thanks for your comments and suggestions, too.

It's sad to say but I will be parting ways with my xB within the next month or two. My family has decided to do some car rearranging in order to cut down on expenses and stop me from killing my sister. We have been sharing the xB for about the past year but she just started paying her portion last month. She doesn't care for it...allows people to smoke in it, trashes it, etc. I can't stand it. After my dad's Altima lease ends early next month he will get my mom's 4Runner, my sister will get a cheap car (under $3,000) and me and my mom will share a car. After doing some research this week we narrowed the field down to: 2008 Saturn Vue Mitsu Outlander Nissan Murano Toyota RAV4 Mazda CX-7 Dodge Nitro Tonight we test drove the first three on the list. The new Vue was first in line and it was very surprising in many different ways. First, it looks much better in person than in pictures...less Korean and more European. The interior was first rate, good design and materials. I found the tan interior with the plood better than the gray interior. We test drove a silver XE V6 AWD model and it was tight. Very solid feeling, quiet. The ride wasn't too hard or soft, steering feel was good, the brake pedal was a little soft. Power was more than adequate and the 6-speed auto was smooth as butter. All was going well...until we priced. It was around $24-25K but the payment for both lease (low $400 for 60 months) and purchase (low $500 for 60 months) bellied the price. I'm guessing because it's a new vehicle with no incentives. For a comparison, our current 60-month 2003 4Runner lease is low $400 a month and that stickered for about $35K. Now, I am not complaining about the overall price of $25K...the car is definitely worth that much money. We just thought the payments were high. Next up was the Outlander. Again, a surprising vehicle. We test drove a blue base AWD model. It didn't feel as solid on the road as the Vue but the interior was nice, power was adequate, transmission was fine, ride was softer than the Vue but not too soft. The brake pedal was a little soft, steering was fine. It stickered for about $24-25K. They were offering $21K to lease or purchase, though we did not go through the numbers. The price was $2K off of Edmunds' invoice price. Besides the MP3 input jack the Vue had, both the Vue and the Outlander were equipped the same...side airbags, traction control, ABS, etc. The last car was the Murano. Originally, based on pricing it online, we thought the Murano would be too expensive for us but because it is 4-years old Nissan is running some good incentives. It doesn't hurt that my dad has purchased his past 4 cars from the same Nissan dealer, either. Anyway, the Murano was impressive, too. I always thought of it as being a little cheap inside but I guess Nissan has improved the materials quality since it was introduced. It stickered for $31K and had a little bit more equipment than the Vue and Outlander. The CVT takes some getting used to...very weird but cool at the same time. Handling was good, brake feel was good, there was enough power. Currently, we are leaning toward the Murano. We can get a good deal and we haven't had any problems with the previous Nissans we've owned. My dad isn't thrilled with Mitsubishi, even though he admitted the Outlander is competitive. I still want to drive the CX-7, though. Honestly, I was sold on the Vue. The salesman (correctly) said that if we could wait a month or two there may be better financing rates available or maybe a lease special. Unfortunately, waiting is going to be tough. I'm up for it but I don't know if my parents are. Anywho...that's it so far. Any vehicle suggestions are appreciated. We are looking into a midsize crossover under $30K, mainly under $25K.

If you can get a $44K Enclave and $44K Acadia and the Acadia comes with more equipment, and you don't care about brand, what would you choose? Design surely comes into the equation at some point but I believe more people place value for money over styling. I think this is part of the problem you have. I just can't explain it. However, the Enclave is all car and, IMO, deserves that price.

I think it looks pretty good.

No thanks, Porche. Porche is all name, IMO. The cars have the same look, poor interiors versus the competition and are overrated.

Good news. Anticipating future wants and needs of customers.

I like everything but the back end. Too flat-assed like the Civic. It's not flattering on humans or cars.

You missed bolding (and possible counting) a "best-ever." I'll let you find it, lol.

I've seen tons of advertising for the Aura in my area but nothing for the Outlook. Go Enclave, go! Acadia looks great, too.

I've always liked the Crossfile. One of the better, more stylish Chrysler vehicles.

Reg, I think the interior is tan/black, not grey. The black might be dark grey, though. I still think it looks good. Notice the apparent quality of the plastic that surrounds the HVAC and radio buttons. Not just basic black plastic but grey-colored material that looks upmarket. I am surprised at the gas mileage Edmunds got in econ mode. Very nice. The price difference between the gas-only and hybrid versions, however, is probably going to be too much, kind of like the current-gen. And the holes in the rear bumper are not the exhaust...they're reflectors. I made the same mistake, too, when we first saw this.

The front is nice but the rest is boring, safe, and somewhat cheapy looking.

The rear end does look somewhat weird...I think it's the taillights...but it does look pretty good for a small BMW.

G35 coupe rocks. This I'm not so sure about.

The Wrangler is an all-around good product...that's why it's selling. Looks great, nice interior, capability, options galore, priced right.

This is from the official Toyota press release and the price increase isn't as large is the thread's subtitle makes it out to be: http://www.pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/V...YT2007061995085